BG News wins four awards in regional contest

BOWLING GREEN, O.—The Society of Professional Journalists has presented The BG News, Bowling Green State University's student newspaper, with four Mark of Excellence Awards for 2007 in a four-state region.

Among the awards was a first-place entry in the Breaking News Reporting category. Lisa Halverstadt, then the newspaper's city editor and now editor in chief, and Tim Sampson, the current city editor, were honored for their March 29, 2007, story about the murders of Alicia Castillion and John Mitchell in Bowling Green. As a winner in Region 4—comprising Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia and western Pennsylvania—the story will now be judged for possible national honors, which will be announced in May.

In the Best All-Around Daily Student Newspaper category, among papers published at least four times per week, the BG News was second only to The State News of Michigan State University.

Also placing second, in General News Photography, was BG News photo editor Enoch Wu for his photo “Protest at the Oval,” depicting a Jena Six-related rally in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union Oval.

Taking third place in Sports Writing was Colin Wilson for “Keeping a dream alive,” a February 2007 profile of basketball player Antonio Daniels, a BGSU Athletic Hall of Famer now with the NBA's Washington Wizards. Wilson was BG News sports editor at the time.

Halverstadt, of Cleves; Sampson, of Mooresville, N.C., and Wilson, of Avon, are all BGSU seniors majoring in print journalism. Wu, a sophomore from Lexington, Ohio, is a visual communication technology major.

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(Posted March 19, 2008 )